Reel Abilities Fest Spotlights Lives of People With Disabilities

With Braille, sign language, captions, event is accessible to all

Social and physical taboos experienced by people living with disabilities will be in the spotlight at the fifth annual ReelAbilities: N.Y. Disabilities Film Festival, kicking off on Thursday.
The fest runs in 24 locations throughout New York until March 12, showcasing films about the lives of people with disabilities from a variety of communities and situations.
Opening film is “Come as You Are,” which follows three young men on a quest to lose their virginity, eventually leading them to a Spanish brothel which caters to people with disabilities.
“This festival has turned into a movement that is changing the way we perceive people with disabilities,” said festival co-founder and director Isaac Zablocki. “Films are reaching the mainstream public like never before and celebrating the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities.”
ReelAbilities describes itself as the most accessible festival in the country, providing all-captioned content, ASL interpretation, CART, Braille programs, and audio description for the visually impaired.
The fest will also tour 13 cities nationwide including Boston, Chicago and Houston. It hopes to bring communities together to discuss, explore and celebrate the diversity of the shared human experience.
The New York fest features an array of new works from across the spectrum of disabilities, with screenings including “Getting Up,” “Scarlet Road,” and “The Importance of Tying Your Own Shoes.”
For more information, go to Reelabilities.org.